KABUL - Under-Secretary-General Vladimir Voronkov, Head of the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism appealed for support to the victims of terrorism today in Kabul.

“We must never forget the tens of thousands of people that have been injured, traumatized or lost their lives during terrorist attacks”, said Mr. Voronkov during his keynote address to the conference on Commemorating the International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism, organized by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. Expressing solidarity with the victims of terrorism, he added that when we “listen to their voices, respect their rights and provide them with support and justice, we are reducing the lasting damage done by terrorists to individuals, families and communities”.

On the sidelines of the Conference, Mr. Voronkov also met with a group of Afghan victims of terrorism. 

The 300 participants that took part at the conference included the Chief Executive of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Cabinet members, senior officials of governmental and non-governmental organizations, representatives from diplomatic missions and representatives of national human rights institutions from other countries. In parallel, other events are scheduled to take place across Afghanistan to mark the “International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism”, established by General Assembly resolution 72/165 in 2018. The Government of Afghanistan played a leading role to establish this international day, observed on 21 August, to honour and support the victims of terrorism.

Yesterday, Mr. Voronkov also met President Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah, Foreign Minister Rabbani and other members of Cabinet and senior officials of the Afghan Government. In his meetings, Mr. Voronkov commended Afghanistan’s efforts and resolve to confront terrorism and praised the people of Afghanistan for their resilience. He affirmed the commitment of the United Nations to provide capacity building support to Afghanistan, based on the priorities of the government and assessment recommendations of the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED).

The Office of Counter-Terrorism was established in June 2017 to provide leadership on the implementation of General Assembly counter-terrorism mandates, to enhance coordination and coherence, and to strengthen the delivery of the United Nations counter-terrorism capacity building assistance to Member States.

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For more information, please contact:

Ms. Laurence Gerard, United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, New York, gerardl@un.org